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Monday, July 23, 2018

Sam's New House

That is the face of someone who has just signed all the documents and has been handed an envelope with the keys to his new house inside!

Our son Sam is a much better money handler than Jeff and I are - but then, he makes more than we ever did, plus he doesn't have children who want things like food and shoes and sports uniforms - gah, they are greedy little punks, aren't they? Just kidding - they were worth it. Anyway, he's been working on his own after graduating from college in 2011, diligently saving money, and he finally had enough to put a down payment on a house.

It's a brand new house, in a new subdivision - the oldest houses there are only two years old, and most of the neighbors we met had only been there for a few months, at most. Jeff and I flew out to help him with the move, and also help with getting his old townhome restored back to order so he could get his security deposit back. I'd planned on staying an extra week after Jeff went back home (he was starting his new, full-time job), but as things ended up taking longer to accomplish, it made sense for me to stick around for a third week since Sam needed to go back to work. That way, I could be there to let in service people...who, as it turned out, were mostly no-shows. Super frustrating on that end, but we got a lot accomplished in the meantime, so it was still a good decision.

Of course you know I took a lot of pictures - that is, when I didn't have a box in my arms to carry upstairs. Sam closed on his house on a Tuesday, and the movers weren't scheduled until Friday, so we had many, many trips back and forth to his old place - a 40 minute drive each way - taking as many boxes as would fit into his car. He also rented a U-Haul van to bring over his gym equipment:

OK the truck is empty now, but it was pretty full when they arrived.

I included this picture because I wanted to show off the white walls in
the garage - the builder finished it with insulation and drywall, but it
wasn't painted, so at one of many trips to Home Depot and Lowe's, we picked up a couple cans of Kilz and Jeff got the garage painted before
the big stuff arrived. Then they started setting up Sam's Gym for Muscles.

While Jeff and Sam were busy making trips back and forth between his old place and his new one, I was at the new house putting stuff away and waiting for deliveries, like the refrigerator:

I feel like this should be some sort of knock knock joke, with the lone fridge at the front door...

That was a tiiight squeeze, but they made it inside, whew!

Official moving day - the van arrived with a crew of three, and they worked their butts off! Keep in mind that Sam's old place had three levels, as well as his new one. SO. MANY. STAIRS.

It took quite a few days to get most of the house in order, but it's looking pretty good now. Sam still needs to set up his office and media room, and his home theater on the third floor, but as he still does not internet, he's not bothering with that a the moment. His garage is looking really good, though!

Kitchen - it has a lot of storage; the cabinet to the left of the range, as well as the cabinets above the refrigerator and microwave are still empty!

Coffee station/beverage center. All the cups and mugs are in the cupboard above that countertop - it seems to work nicely so far.

Display cabinet, which of course he wanted his Fiestaware in. Some of it is in the dishwasher, but it looks really bright and colorful when everything is inside the cabinet.

Dining area just off the kitchen. He needs something on that large wall but so far we couldn't come up with a good plan for it.

View from the dining area into the living room. His old furniture works fine in that room for now but eventually he'll probably get a larger sofa and rug - oh and a coffee table...and maybe even a lamp!

Fireplace - I did the best I could with what he had - really, this needs some taller pictures but it works for now. He had everything except for the blue glass vase and faux greenery - we found that vase on clearance at West Elm, and I was super jealous of his deal as I need some taller decorative vases for MY living room!

He bought this little cabinet while I was there - its cute and works really well in that spot. The door exits to a screened in patio, which was the best thing he opted for in that house - we were able to sit outside in the evening without getting bit up by mosquitoes!

Entry, with another cabinet he bought. My mom suggested hanging a mirror above it, but we really didn't have time to go looking for one. I'm thinking it should be on the rustic side, to go with the cabinet?

More of the entry - the cabinet is just to the left in this shot.

We hung Gramps in the powder room, which is just off the entry hall. It's a very barren room, so I wanted to put something over the toilet in order to get a two-fer with the art:

You can see it in the mirror! I was sitting on the closed toilet seat to test out the height of the picture (yes I feel like I needed to clarify that, LOL). The towel would look better if it was in a darker green or even a blue, but this came from his old place and by the time I realized he needed a different color, he was back at work and there wasn't enough time to go shop for one.

That's the first floor - all of the bedrooms/offices are on the second floor and except for the guest room and bathroom, they are all a work in progress. I somehow didn't manage to get a picture of the cool shower curtain that I picked for that room, but it's really pretty without being overly feminine.

I did get a picture of Sam's shower - this was a great upgrade from the standard oversized tub and stall shower - no tub in there, and the huge picture window (seriously WHY do builders put big windows in the room where you are in a state of undress quite often) was changed into a frosted rectangle above the shower.

I'll have more to show you in upcoming posts - did you ever think that my blog would turn into a house blog? I didn't, but it's pretty fun to see everything, and hopefully you are enjoying it as well.

26 comments:

Sam's house is very nice! Thanks for sharing the pictures with us. Wow what a tight fit that fridge was! How cool that Sam has inherited your love of Fiesta ware too. Good for him having his own home gym.

I think Sam is probably starting off 1000% better decorated than most people his age. He's blessed to have a mom with an eye for beautiful things. He should just keep in mind that a new house takes a while to make it your own and honestly there's no rush for anything that's not essential to daily living. It will be fun to watch it come together!

No kidding, right? But decent furniture is a lot more affordable these days than it was back when we were just starting out. Shoot, we had one couch and lawn chairs in our first couple of living rooms!

It's such a weird space! He put his TV in the same spot we did! I hope he plans on buying room darkening curtains because the glare from the 3 windows can get annoying. Those are next on our purchase list!

Wow, what a home!!! Congratulations, Sam! That kitchen!!! And master loo! Everything is just so sharp! It's so wonderful that you & retired, not retired Jeff could go help. Is the Gramps picture a photo of your Dad? Chrissy

They are! But what you can't see, and what I found fascinating to watch, is that they have these shoulder strap contraptions that also go around their waists, and that part has this ratcheting dealie that makes it easy (or easier, I should say) to life a heavy object. Pretty ingenious!

I love hearing from you and read each and every comment! Comments on older posts are moderated, so they won't show up right away - sorry to my real readers, but spammers love to hit old posts, so this is necessary.